The Chinese General Administration of Customs (GAC) uncovered 1,190 smuggling cases in 2007, up 4.3 percent year on year, according to a notice posted on the official website of the GAC.

These cases involved a total of 7.568 billion yuan (1.04 billion U.S. dollars), down 45.7 percent from the same period last year, of which 26 cases were "severe" ones involving more than 10 million yuan each.

It spotted and handled 356 drug cases, seizing 496 kilograms of different kinds of drugs, said the notice.

The GAC said although it had achieved some tangible results in its anti-smuggling endeavors in 2007, it said commercial fraud and illegal cases in the processing trade are on the rise.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2008)